Passing the Torch
by Blaze X
Summary: Scott Summers has many responsibilities. He leads a team, he teaches, he trains a team of students, and he mentors several students one on one. Now Xavier wants Scott to take over as headmaster, and if Scott decides to take over, he'll have to give up some of the responsibilities he already has. He's not sure he's ready for that.
1. An Average Day

Twice a week the Blue team met in the Danger Room for a training session. Most other teams only trained in the Danger Room once a week, but Scott had higher standards than the other team leaders did.

Cyclops looked over his team, Marvel Girl, Northstar, and Iceman were there; Wolverine was missing. "Does anyone know where Logan is?"

"I heard him get back late last night." Rachel said. "He may not have woken up yet."

"It's not even that early in the morning."

"Scott, it's six thirty." Iceman whined.

"That's not early." Scott waved him off. "If Logan doesn't show up, that's on him. We can train without him. Danger Room, begin program."

Hard light holograms began creating the scenario they would be training in, but halfway through the environment being formed it stopped, as the door opened and Logan entered, not even fully in his uniform yet.

"Huh, almost got to have a training session where I didn't throw Logan at something." Rachel threw her arms up.

"Logan, why are you late?" Scott asked.

"Got home late last night, and slept through my alarm." Logan answered while putting his shirt on.

"Then don't stay out so late."

"You don't dictate my life, Summers."

"You said you could handle your busy schedule, clearly you were wrong."

"It was one slip up."

"If it happens again, I'll have to take you off the team."

Logan growled at Scott in response.

"Danger Room, resume program."

When the environment finished forming, Cyclops made each member go through individual warm-ups and exercises.

Marvel Girl focused on several moving objects at once while the room was filled with multiple distractions. She was doing pretty well until a simulation of Kitty appeared to flirt with her. When that happened, all the objects she was levitating fell.

Northstar had to go through several difficult obstacles while flying while carrying someone else, forcing him to go slower than what he was used to. He easily passed.

Iceman's scenario forced him to get creative. He had to fight several enemies at once and he wasn't allowed to create ice walls to block their attacks, or end the fight by immobilizing them in ice. He managed to win the fight by pinning the enemies to the wall with ice constructs.

Wolverine was thrown at something.

After the individual exercises, a team focused scenario began. Despite Wolverine's usual difficult attitude, they easily beat the scenario. The program ended and the Danger room returned to its normal, sterile appearance.

"That was short." Logan commented. "I shouldn't have bothered getting up for this." He said as he left the Danger Room.

"Logan you know Danger Room training is mandatory." Scott raised his voice. "Just because you think it's a waste of time, doesn't make it less important for the rest of the team."

"Can we skip the part where you lecture me, Slim? I've heard it all before. Being an X-Man is important, I should be more of a team player, you don't like my attitude. Look, I'll make sure not to stay out so late, so I can actually get a good amount of sleep and be up on time and less grumpy next time."

"Okay...thanks for streamlining our usual arguments and skipping to the part where you're more cooperative."

"You're welcome. But seriously, I'm going back to bed."

Scott and Logan went upstairs together. They parted ways when Logan turned in the direction of his room and Scott in the direction of his office. Everything in his office was very organized and precise without even his paperweights being out of place, the exception to this were the papers he had piled up on his desk, all of them tests he had to grade. He was hoping to finish half of them before he had to meet with the team of students he was in charge of training.

Scott's tests always involved free response questions and mini essays. His students hated that he never gave multiple choice questions, but he felt his tests were a better way to gage how much his students had actually learned. The downside of this was that it took longer to grade the test than if they were multiple choice, so he only managed to get about a third of the tests graded.

All four of the students he was training were already out on the field when Scott got out there. Only juniors and seniors were aloud to sign up to be put on these training teams, and the teams always consisted of three to five students who were placed on teams based mostly on their powers. Part of the training was learning how to work with anyone, which is why compatible personalities wasn't considered. That also meant there was a lot of fighting between team members in the first few weeks.

Scott still hadn't got his team past that point, so he wasn't surprised that Briana and Charlie were arguing when he arrived on the training field.

"You have to take this seriously, Charlie!" Briana said.

"Why? Is there something wrong with having fun, while doing superhero stuff?" Charlie responded in a jovial tone.

"Yes. Being a superhero, is a job, an important job, that has to be taken seriously." Briana saw Scott approach them. "Mr. Summers, can you explain to Charlie why he's wrong?"

"He's not wrong." Scott answered. "Yes being a superhero is basically a job, but there's nothing that says you can't enjoy your job."

"He should still take things more seriously."

Scott sighed. He remembered going through this with the original X-Men and the second team. Eventually he realized that as long as they got the job done it was okay if they weren't serious one hundred percent of the time. While he could explain this to Briana, he figured it was best that she learned this on her own. "Let's just get started. Today, you'll be going against another team."

"Which team?" Alex asked. She had memorized the other teams and their powers.

"Logan's team." Scott answered.

"So, Armor, Talon, Jubilee, and Kid Omega?" Alex counted them off on her fingers.

"Yes. In this scenario they've been given a hostage that you have to rescue. You have five minutes to strategize. Briana you'll be the leader."

This was the first time Scott was putting his team up against another team. There wasn't much more he could teach them until they went against actual opponents instead of just doing obstacle courses and team building exercises.

"Okay, the first thing we need to do is take out Quentin." Briana said.

"Use codenames." Scott chimed in.

Briana sighed. "I'm resistant to telepathy in my Obsidian form, so I can take out Kid Omega."

"Resistance isn't immunity." Dusk spoke up.

"No, but if he tries attacking me, it'll be more difficult."

"He's an omega level telepath. Your resistance will mean nothing to him."

"Then what would you suggest?" Briana snapped.

"I can deal with him."

"How?"

"He's arrogant. He won't think twice before entering my mind."

"Why do you always have to be so obtuse about everything?" Charlie asked.

"Leave her alone, Star-Kid." Alex said. "Just be happy, she's talking to us at all."

"Can we please focus?" Briana tried to get them back on track. "Dusk thinks she can deal with Kid-Omega, and if she fails I'll take of him. Aegis, can you hold back Talon?"

"Um, maybe; I don't think my sheilds can hold back adamantium." Alex didn't have much confidence in her powers. "Wouldn't I be better suited to holding back Jubilee, and Star-Kid can hold back Talon?"

"What? Why?"

"His power works at a distance, and Talon needs to get in close to do anything."

Briana knew Alex had a point about that, but she didn't want to admit it, but she also wanted to win their first fight against another team.

"You have a minute left." Scott informed them.

"Fine, we'll go with your idea, Aegis." Briana conceded. "That just leaves Armor. I can fight after taking out Kid-Omega."

"You have no faith in me." Dusk commented flatly.

"Times up." Scott told them. He led them to where the match would be taking place. Logan's team was already there with a dummy positioned behind them. There were several walls and other barriers positioned between where the two teams were starting.

Scott met up with Logan in an observation area. "How well did your team do with strategizing?" He asked.

"Quire thinks he can handle your team on his own, and wouldn't listen to the others, but Laura remembered how Dusk's powers interact with telepaths and planned around that. What about yours?"

"They have a plan to fight your team, but…"

Logan smirked. He knew what that meant. "Technically if they beat my team within the time limit they win."

"It's not effective." Scott stepped forward. "The time limit is fifteen minutes. If the hostage isn't rescued by then, Logan's team wins. Now start."

Dusk approached the other team as her eyes changed from their usual purple to orange and shadowy tendrils began manifesting around her. The tendrils rushed toward the other team, but they stopped when Kid-Omega shot her with his psychic shotgun. When Dusk was hit with the psychic attack, Kid-Omega's eyes changed to the same orange and dark veins formed around them. The two of them were now frozen in place since they were both keeping the other from making another move against their respective teams.

Obsidian changed into a black diamond form with a rainbow luster, then led the rest of her team across the field. Star-Kid created several star shaped platforms to get over the walls and other barriers, allowing him to get to the other team faster than his teammates.

Jubilee tried to knock him out of the air, but Aegis created a force field to block Jubilee's attack.

Armor threw Talon at Aegis, forcing Aegis to put a shield up to block her. Talon's claws stabbed through the shield, but she couldn't get any further. Star-Kid threw several stars at Talon, knocking her off the shield. Talon made her way to Obsidian who was fighting Armor, but Star-Kid was able to keep her from getting anywhere with a constant barrage of stars.

The fight continued until the time ran out.

Since Scott's team failed to save the hostage, Logan's team won, which Scott knew would happen. He called his team over to discuss what they did wrong. "Dusk, you can let Quentin go now."

Dusk released Quentin, and Quentin stumbled back as his eyes changed back to normal. "What is wrong with your head?" He asked.

"My mind is nothing but an endless void." Dusk answered, but she was making that up to mess with him. The truth was she didn't know why her powers did that to telepaths. She quickly joined the rest of her team with Scott.

"Okay, do you know where you went wrong?" Scott asked his team.

"We couldn't beat the other team fast enough." Charlie answered.

"We were too focused on beating the other team, when we should have been focused on getting the hostage to safety." Alex corrected him.

"Exactly." Scott affirmed. "Your goal was to save the hostage, not beat the other team in a fight. Now, what did you do right?"

"Having Dusk disable Quentin." Briana reluctantly admitted.

"Yes, and overall your strategy for dealing with the other team was pretty good. Now what could you have done differently?"

"Charlie and I should have switched targets." Briana answered. "I could have quickly taken Laura out of the fight, and Charlies powers would have worked against Hisako just as well. Once Laura was taken out. I could have grabbed the hostage and had Alex and Charlie cover me while I got the hostage to safety."

Scott nodded. "Very good. Next week, you'll have a similar scenario, but against a different team. Until then, we'll work more on your team work."

Scott dismissed the team but had Briana stay back. "Briana, how much do you want to be leader?"

"I want it more than anything, but my team is always questioning me, which makes it hard."

"Having your team question your decisions can be hard, but the important thing is you listened to your team when it mattered. If you want, I'll mentor you, to help develop your leadership skills."

"Really, Mr. Summers? That would be amazing! When can we get started?"

"We can get started tomorrow."

"That sounds great. Thanks Mr. Summers." Briana said as she walked off.

Scott waved her off then went back to grading tests, and an hour later he finished. Right before he could get started on making a lesson plan for the next week, Xavier called Scott to his office.

Normally when Xavier called for him, it was to talk to Scott about a mission for his team or to ask Scott for his opinion on some school related matter. This time it was different. When Scott entered his office, Xavier didn't have the same serious air about him that he would for the usual reasons he called him in.

"Why'd you call me in here, professor?"

"Well Scott, I've decided it's time I retire, and I want you to become the new headmaster."


	2. The Decision

Scott didn't know how to feel about Xavier retiring. Should he be upset that Xavier was leaving? Should he be happy Xavier trusted him enough to take over? Was he even ready to take over? Was he even Xavier's first choice to take over? He remembered Xavier talking to Jean about her possibly taking over before she died, and Scott was sure there were better choices than him.

"Scott, you've been silent for a while now," A look of concern crossed Xavier's face. "Is something bothering you?"

"It's just, this is a lot to take in. Are you sure you want me to take over? What about Hank or Ororo? Aren't they more qualified to run the school than I am?"

"Scott, there's no one more qualified than you to take over."

"I'm still not sure about this. Why did you decide to retire now?"

"There are a number of factors involved, but mostly I feel the X-Men have long since outgrown my original dream. You've all outgrown me. Truth be told I should have retired a few years ago, but..."

"Jean's death stopped you." Scott finished.

"Yes." There was a long pause before he continued. "Scott, if you don't want to take over, I can always find someone else."

"No. No, I just...I just need time to think this over."

"Take as much time as you need."

Scott left Xavier's office, going back to his classroom to finish writing those lesson plans, but it wasn't easy to focus with everything that just happened. Sure, Scott had led the X-Men since he was sixteen, but he was always the field leader, that didn't really translate into overseeing all the x-teams and the school. There was no way Scott was actually ready.

He was not getting anything done like this. He needed to talk to someone about it, but he didn't want to bother anyone else with his problem. As he was pondering this, Bobby came by and noticed something was troubling him.

"You look more dour than usual, Scott. What's wrong?"

"I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Oh…" Bobby walked in and took a seat. "That's code for you want to talk about it."

"Are you sure you're okay hearing about my problems?"

"Just tell me what's bothering you."

Scott sighed. "Xavier wants me to take over as headmaster, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

"You're the only one in the entire school that doesn't think you're ready."

"I figured you'd say something like that, but it doesn't really help me." Scott didn't need reassurance of his qualifications. What he needed was someone who would listen, and Bobby wasn't really the right person for that. Scott stood up and walked over to the door. "Thanks for your help Bobby, but I'm going to go find Logan and talk to him about this instead."

"Great talk, Scott." Bobby said. "Never even gave me the chance to help you." He muttered once Scott was out of earshot.

Scott found Logan in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich. "I thought you would've already ate lunch by now." Scott noted.

"I have. This is a snack. You want me to make you something?"

"Do you even know how to make vegan food?"

"How hard can it be? It's just vegetables."

"No, it's not just-" Scott stopped himself. He didn't see much point in correcting Logan on this one. After about a minute Logan gave Scott a plate of celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins. Scott really shouldn't have been surprised that Logan succeeded in making something vegan. He ate a few of the celery sticks and just enjoyed Logan's company before bringing up the subject. "So, Xavier's retiring."

"Yeah, I figured he'd be doing that soon. Who's taking over for him?"

"He wants me to, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Sure, I've lead several X-teams in the past, and I teach, but I don't think that's enough experience to run an entire school and managing five teams."

"Does X-Club really count as a team?"

"Even if they don't someone has to reign them in when things get out of hand, and that would be part of my job when I take over for Xavier."

"You said 'when' not 'if'. Sounds like you've already made your mind up about this."

"Well, yeah, kind of. I mean I was the one who came up with the program to train students who wanted to be X-Men, and I have some other ideas that could help the school and the X-Men like that more, and if I was headmaster, it'd be easier to implement them, but I also know it takes more than just good ideas to take over from Xavier."

"Look, I don't know anything about what it takes to run a school, if it was me it would chaos within a week-"

"I remember your idea to outfit the whole school with danger room tech."

"That was a great idea, Summers, and not what I was talking about. My point is there's probably a reason Chuck picked you over anyone else. You may not understand that reason, but clearly he has faith in you, and if that's not enough for you to realize you're the right person for the job, I don't know what will."

"What if I'm just the least bad option? What if I take over and ruin everything?"

"If the X-Men go down in ruins because you took over, a time traveler would have already showed up to stop all this." Logan said with a chuckle.

"I'd probably end up being their dad too." Scott said with a small smile.

His talk with Logan managed to put Scott's mind at ease enough to finish up his work for the day. He was now more willing to acknowledge that he was qualified to take over from Xavier. With that, his decision was made, so he left the kitchen and made his way to the basement where he knew Xavier would be now.

The X-Men had several facilities down in the basement, including science labs, medical care, the blackbird's hangar, cerebro, the danger room, and holding cells. The original purpose of the holding cells was for the X-Men to temporarily hold criminals until SHIELD, the police, or someone along those lines could come and move that criminal to a more appropriate facility until they could be put on trial.

However, over time, Xavier started keeping some of their enemies in there indefinitely with the explanation that no one else would be able to hold them. That explanation really only worked with Azazel whose teleportation abilities could only be stopped with mental blocks Xavier put in his head and had to regularly strengthen.

The explanation could be stretched to work with the Juggernaut, who was only kept there by sigils Illyana put in his cell blocking him from Cyttorak's power, and the Living Monolith, who was kept from absorbing cosmic energy by dampeners Beast installed. Both these measurements could be replicated in any other prison they were moved to, the problem was actually moving them.

There was one prisoner they had that this explanation didn't work for no matter how Xavier stretched it: Sabretooth. Yes, he was as strong as Spider-Man, and yes, his claws could cut through steel, but ultimately Creed wasn't that difficult to keep imprisoned. The real reason Xavier kept him here was because he thought he could rehabilitate Creed. Why Xavier thought he could change Sabretooth of all people was anyone's guess.

Scott found Xavier in front of Creed's cell who was acting far more docile than the last time Scott was down here. Maybe Xavier's rehabilitation was really working. Scott waited outside the holding area for Xavier to finish up, and he managed to catch the tail end of their conversation.

"Must you solve all your problems with violence?" Xavier asked with a hint of frustration in his voice. "There are always other ways, many of which are far more effective than hurting others to get your way."

"None quite as fun though." Creed countered.

"Your right." Xavier sighed. "My mistake. Clearly you won't even try other methods unless the option of violence were to be taken from you."

Creed laughed. "I'd love to see you try taking that option from. No matter what the situation, I can get very creative."

"We'll see." Xavier left, running into Scott as soon as he was out in the hall. "Did you over hear that?"

"Some of it. What exactly are you planning?"

"Have you made your decision, Scott?"

Scott was used to Xavier dodging questions like that, so he didn't say anything. If it became important later, Scott would press further then. "I've decided I will take over as headmaster. I know there's a lot of good I can do for the school and the X-Men's cause as headmaster."

"I'm glad to hear that. I know you'll make a great headmaster."


	3. Focusing on the Future

Now that Scott had accepted the position of headmaster, Xavier had started making the arrangements needed for the transition. While that was happening, Scott was figuring out how to adjust his schedule. He already had a lot of responsibilities as it was, it wouldn't be easy to keep up with all of that while also running the school. The easiest way to deal with this would be to give up one of his current responsibilities, but Scott knew he'd be letting people down no matter what he chose to give up.

For now, he just focused on trying to get this to work without disappointing anyone. Maybe if he cut down on sleep. Considering how much sleep he was currently getting a night, he could probably shave off a few hours a night and still get what is considered a healthy amount of sleep. But would those extra hours be enough?

He'd have to budget his time precisely, and he wouldn't have any free time, but he could make it work. Probably.

Who was he kidding, even if he could budget his time precisely, there was always something that would get in the way and throw everything off. Scott slouched in his chair. As much as he was loath to admit it, there was no way around this, he had to give something up.

Trying to figure this out right now was too stressful, so Scott decided he was going to sleep on it and figure out what to do tomorrow.

He didn't get much sleep due to the amount of stress he was under, but that was for the course with him, so it didn't affect as much when he woke up.

After eating breakfast and getting ready for the day, Scott went to his office and began to write out charts to figure out the pros and cons of keeping or giving up each his responsibilities. He decided immediately that he wasn't going to give up teaching. He felt it was currently the most important thing he did.

That mainly left leading Blue Team and training his team of students. There had been periods where Scott wasn't leading any X-team, and everyone got along fine without him, so if he were to give up Blue Team finding a replacement for leader would be easy. As for his team of students, there were several teachers in the school that weren't mentoring anyone, and he hadn't been training this team for that long, so it wouldn't be a major problem if they were to get a new mentor.

So, he was easily replaceable for both things. That didn't help. Before Scott could continue in his thoughts, there was a knock at his door. "Come in."

Briana entered. "Mr. Summers, I'm here for that mentoring thing you told me about yesterday. Where you're going to teach me to be a better leader."

"Oh right, I almost forgot about that."

"If it's too much trouble, I can leave."

"No, it's fine. Come in."

Briana came in and sat down in front of Scott's desk. "So how is this going to work?"

"You mentioned you don't like that your team questions you a lot, so let's start with better ways you can handle that. I noticed yesterday how frustrated you were getting with them when they questioned you, yet you listened to their suggestions anyway. Did you listen to their suggestions because you knew they were good ideas or was it because you just didn't want to argue further?"

Briana shifted in her seat a bit while looking down at her hands before looking back up at Scott and answering. "I, um...I just didn't want to argue further."

"That's not good. First thing we're going to work on, is getting you out of the habit of arguing with your teammates."

"What should I do if they make a bad suggestion?"

"Just enforce your plan, and if they make a good suggestion you have to be flexible enough to use it. You must be able to make the split decision of whether or not you are going to listen what your team mates suggest. Tomorrow is your team's next training session, and to help you get out of that bad habit I'll stop you the moment you start arguing."

"Is that it for today?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, I have a lot on my plate right now, so we can't do much more today."

"Is this about you becoming headmaster?"

"How did you hear about that?"

"Some of the telepathic students occasionally psychically eavesdrop on some of the teachers."

"Its Quire isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's mostly just him."

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll deal with that later. You should get back to your usual Sunday activities."

Briana got up and left, leaving Scott alone with his charts. Charts that he didn't need any more because he had made his decision. Now he just had to figure out how to break the news to Blue Team. If he explained his reasoning, they would probably understand. He left his office to look for Rachel.

Scott checked Rachel's room first, and when she wasn't there he knocked on Kitty's door. After a moment Rachel opened the door. She was wearing one of Kitty's shirt. "What is it? Does the team have a mission?"

"No, but if you could tell the team to gather in about an hour, that would great."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Yeah, when are you going to officially move into Kitty's room. You sleep here almost every night as it is?"

"That's what I've been saying." Kitty yelled from inside the room.

Rachel groaned as she shut the door.

An hour later Blue Team all gathered in a meeting room. "So, as some of you probably know by now, I'm going to become headmaster, however there's no way that I can become headmaster while still leading the team. I think it's best that I put most of my focus on the students now. That said, I will stick around the team until I can find you a new leader."

There was a long moment of silence as the team processed this.

Logan was the first to speak up. "Yeah, I figured this is what you would do. And while I completely understand your decision and support it, I'm quitting the team."

"Why are you leaving? You have no reason to leave."

"The only reason I chose to join this team was because you were the one leading it, Scott. I'm also a member of the Avengers, I'm leading X-Force, and I go on a lot of solo missions. There's just no reason for me to remain on the team if you're no longer leading it."

"Does anyone else feel that way?"

Northstar raised his hand. "I've been looking for an excuse to go back to Alpha Flight. It's just safer for Kyle if I were in Alpha Flight instead of the X-Men."

"So that just leaves me and Rachel? Right?" Bobby turned to Rachel to confirm.

Rachel shrugged. "Yeah, I have no reason to leave. But guess we need to find more than just a new leader."


	4. Transition

The next few weeks were focused on transitioning to Scott as headmaster. Overall it was going smoothly. Xavier wouldn't be leaving the school until the end of the semester, so he could finish teaching his classes, but it also meant he could help Scott out in his new position as needed.

What Scott was having trouble with though, was finding a new leader for Blue Team. The first person that came to mind was Cable, but he was currently off in the timestream with Deadpool for some important mission. Scott had no idea what kind of mission would constitute only bringing Deadpool, but he wasn't going to question it, because he was sure he didn't want to know the answer. Since he couldn't wait until Cable got back to ask him, Scott had to start considering other people.

At the top of his list were Polaris, Psylocke, and Shadowcat. Polaris was currently on Storm's Gold Team; most of their missions were in other countries and tended to last days at a time. It was hard to say when he would be able to talk to Lorna, and Kitty was currently in Madripoor with Logan, so he would have to talk to Betsy first.

Moving around the school felt weird now that Scott was headmaster. He looked at everything a bit differently now. While before he was always thinking about what could be done better, he could now make those changes as needed. Being the one to now make those decisions was a lot of pressure. What he had managed to handle well though, was managing all of the X-Teams, but right now all he really had to manage was Gold Team and X-Club. Nothing came up that needed X-Force yet, X-Factor always operated more independently, and Blue Team couldn't do much until they found a leader and at least one more member.

When Scott found Betsy, the class she was teaching was almost over, so he waited outside until it was over. After the students had all filed out, he entered the classroom.

"I can't lead Blue Team, Scott."

"I know that you would make a great leader."

"It's not that. I just can't do the type of heroics that put me in the spotlight. Not anymore."

"I understand." Scott left.

Since his other choices for Blue Team leader were away right now, he decided to see to other business he had been meaning to take care of, so he went down to one of the science labs where Beast, Dr. Nemesis, and Forge were. The rest of X-Club were off doing other things.

Beast looked up from what he was doing, when Scott entered the lab. "Good news, I've figured out how to have the Living Monolith moved with the risk of him absorbing cosmic energy."

"And Azazel?"

"Forge and Dr. Nemesis have finally stopped arguing about how to suppress his powers without telepathy. They're working on the solution now. Basically, it's a collar that interferes with the part of the brain that controls his teleportation. Theoretically it could be used to suppress any mutant power as long as it's calibrated for them."

"Let's wait to see if it actually works before we start considering its use on other mutants. It could open up a whole can of worms I don't think any of us are prepared to deal with."

"I'll let you know when we know it works."

"Thanks." Scott left the lab and made his way to Illyana's room. "How much progress have you made?"

"I've finished looking into the problem, and it's impossible to have Juggernaut moved."

"How so?"

"Basically, the moment he's moved from his cell, the sigils being used to contain him couldn't work to contain him again."

"Why not?"

"Because his power comes from a demon-god powerful enough to overrule my magic the moment Cain is no longer cut off from that power." She explained in a tone like it should be obvious.

"There's nothing else you can do?"

"He's been imprisoned without the use of magic before, why not just do that?"

"Because putting him in stasis isn't ideal. But if it ends up being the only option, then we'll have to do that. Keeping him here just isn't safe."

"I could always send him to Limbo. That would solve the problem."

Scott sighed. "Let's just make that plan C."

Scott went back to his office. He hoped they would be able to move all of the prisoners within a few weeks, but that was incredibly optimistic. It was amazing that things were going as smoothly as they were, but Scott still had to make sure everything would run smoothly when the time came, and that meant making sure there were enough X-Men on campus when the transfer would take place in case there was an escape attempt during.

When Gold Team got back, he would talk to Storm about making sure her team was around when the time came. They got back late that evening. They all seemed exhausted, so Scott waited until morning before talking to Storm or Polaris.

He talked to Lorna first.

"I'm not sure, Scott. I understand that Blue team needs a leader, but I'd rather remain on this team. It's more stable right now."

Scott understood her reasoning, so he didn't push further. He went to talk to Ororo next.

"We'll be leaving to help the Morlocks with something soon, but that should only take a day at most. After that I'll do what I can to keep the team here when you're transferring prisoners."

"I'm hoping to do it by the end of next week."

"I'll let you know if something happens to cause our mission to take longer."

"Thank you."

Gold Team left for the Morlock Tunnels through the entrance they had in the basement of the school later that evening. The next morning Logan and Kitty got back from Madripoor.

Kitty went to Scott before he could go to her. "I heard from Rachel, you were considering me for Blue Team leader. I accept."

"I never told Rachel. She really shouldn't be reading my mind like that."

"She said with how focused you've been on it, it was kind of hard not to pick up on those thoughts."

"Right. Are you sure you're up for this? It's been awhile since you've even been on a team."

"You wouldn't have considered me if you didn't think I was ready. That's a good enough reason to think I'm up for it as any."

"Okay, will you need any help finding new members?"

"Well, I'm going to get Lockheed and Illyana. If the team needs more members than that, I think I can find them myself. Thanks for the offer though."

"Alright, well if you have any trouble…"

"I'll come to you."

Scott was relieved that was finally resolved. He would be paying close attention to how the new Blue Team worked out, but he was confident in Kitty's ability to lead, so he could now relax a bit more. At least until the team was ready to go on missions again, then that would be another thing for him to manage. He didn't mind that, but he was going to enjoy the lighter load for a little while.

Scott made his way back to the headmaster's office. Thinking of it as his office felt weird, and he wasn't sure if he would ever get used to that. He got settled behind his desk and started going over some paperwork. Barely a minute into this, an alarm from the basement went off.


	5. Trust

The holding cells in the basement of the Xavier School for Higher Learning were some of the most state-of-the-art cells on earth. They had to be, as with all their varying powers, mutants were extremely difficult to contain. There was no universal way to keep every mutant contained. Teleporters especially were difficult to contain. On the rare occasion a mutant prison receives a teleporter, they'll usually put the teleporter into cryo-sleep and be done with it.

In an ideal world prison is supposed to rehabilitate, in the actual world prison's main purpose is punishment. Putting prisoners into cryo-sleep does not accomplish either of these goals, which is why when the X-Men managed to capture Azazel, Xavier kept him in the X-Men's holding cells and used his telepathy to keep him from accessing his powers. The only problem with the method has been that Xavier has to frequently reinforce the blocks on Azazel. He hasn't had any problem keeping up with it, but he's worried about what might happen if an enemy telepath undid the blocks while they were at their weakest before he could reinforce them once again.

Azazel felt the exact moment the telepathic blocks were taken down. He didn't know who did it, but he wasn't going to question his chance at freedom. Much to his frustration though, he only managed to teleport out of his cell when he meant to teleport to the other side of the planet. It would seem it would be awhile before he regained his full range.

He quickly realized his best chance to escape would be to release the other prisoners. The fact that they would cause extra damage to the school was an added bonus for him.

Juggernaut and the Living Monolith were the real power houses, so when Sabretooth didn't make a move to leave his cell after being released, Azazel ignored him, since he wouldn't make enough of a difference anyway.

The alarm went off as soon as they were out in the hallway.

Sabretooth watched as the others ran off. Once they made it up to the main floor he left his cell and made his way to the Morlock tunnels.

…

As soon as the alarm went off, Rachel telepathically contacted Scott. "The prisoners just escaped. Sabretooth went to the Morlock tunnels; the rest are making their way up here. What should we do?"

"Connect with every X-Man in the mansion." Scott felt a slight mental tingle as Rachel connected everyone. "Our first priority is getting all of the students and non-combatant faculty to safety. Kitty, Psylocke, Kurt, start getting everyone to the Danger Room. Illyana go with them and be ready to evacuate everyone if worse comes to worse."

"What should we do?" Beast asked.

"Keep X-Club in the lab. It's just as secure as the Danger Room, and we'll need you to be ready with ways to restrain the prisoners when we capture them again."

"We'll do what we can."

"Bobby, I need you to put the Living Monolith on ice before he can start absorbing energy. Rachel, what's the status on Azazel?"

"Still here. He hasn't regained his full range yet."

"Then Northstar and I will deal with him. That leaves the Juggernaut to Logan and Rachel."

"What about Creed?" Logan asked.

"He's in the Morlock tunnels. Gold Team can take care of him."

"Azazel's already outside."

"Do your best to keep him on the grounds, Northstar. I'm heading out there."

Scott was already in the front hall by the time they finished the conversation. He ran out the doors and started taking note of Azazel's patterns in effort to predict where he would 'port to next. Northstar was fast enough to react whenever Azazel rematerialized, but it wouldn't be long before he found an opening. Scott ran to the fountain knowing that would give him the best angle. His first two shots missed as Azazel was able to teleport away in time. The third hit just as he rematerialized and took him out.

"How's everyone else doing?"

"I'm having to keep a continuous stream of ice on Monolith, but I think I can keep him down until Hank can get him back in his cell."

"Juggernaut's down. X-Club is currently putting him into stasis to keep him down." Logan reported. "I'm going after Creed now."

"Logan, stay there. Storm can handle it, and we need you here until we can guarantee the prisoners are secure."

Scott brought Azazel back down to the basement where Rachel reinforced Xavier's blocks. "There's something else here that feels familiar."

"Can you identify the telepath that let him out?" Scott asked.

"Maybe. It'll take time, and I can't guarantee anything."

Once the prisoners were secured, the lockdown ended, and Logan went into the Morlock tunnels. To help ensure this didn't happen again until the prisoners were moved, the telepaths kept psychic surveillance on them. When Gold Team returned a day later, the prisoners started to be moved. Scott had already made all the arrangements; he found a new facility that he had already vetted to be sure the faculty there would treat the prisoners well. Beast just needed to help them upgrade some of their security to better hold them.

Emma kept them telepathically sedated while Rogue, Polaris, and Gambit helped move them to the Blackbird. While they were doing this, Scott pulled Storm aside to talk to her.

"Did you run into Logan at any point while you were down there?"

"Yes, he was very determined to find Sabretooth, and said it could be a few days before he returns."

"Did he seem okay to you?"

"Scott, what's really on your mind?"

Scott sighed. "I know capturing Sabretooth is important, but when it comes to him, Logan can get self-destructive. I wish I could go in after him, but there's too much for me to do here."

Storm placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I understand how hard it must be. Perhaps you could send someone after him?"

"I know Rachel could find him, so I'll have it be the new Blue Team's first mission."

As soon as the prisoners were secure on the Blackbird, Gold Team left. Scott was able to relax a bit now that they were no longer in the school's basement. When he got back up to his office he had several new-emails and a few missed phone calls. All of them were from concerned parents who heard about the breakout from their children, with some even threatening to take their children from the school.

This wasn't going to be easy, but the parents had a right to know exactly what happened. He started typing up a mass email to the parents to explain what happened.

 _Dear Parents,_

 _It is important that you know and understand what goes on at the school, especially if it might concern your children's safety. Up until yesterday the X-Men were keeping dangerous criminals locked up in the basement holding cells. They have now been moved to more secure facilities, and regardless of if they attempted to break out or not, that would still be the case._

 _That, however, does not change the fact that holding criminals in such close proximity to our students was wrong, and put your children in danger. I understand if you want to take your children from the school after this recent incident, but I think it's important for your children to continue attending the school._

 _This school is the only school in the country that is not only openly accepting of mutants but will also train them in the use of their powers, so they won't accidentally hurt themselves or others. There are few other places where mutant children can be with others like them. This is also one of the safest places for them. Yes, there is the risk of the school being attacked, but there is always a risk of mutants being attacked, and the school can provide protection that they will not get anywhere else as well as teach them self-defense._

 _Several steps have also been made to make sure that what happened yesterday will never happen again. I know this will not completely ease your worries, but I think it's still important that you don't take your children from the school._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Headmaster Summers_

To Scott's surprise, in the following weeks, only a few students were taken from the school. He half expected to lose most of the students whose parents still cared about them.

The X-Men were still searching for whoever was behind the breakout, and as much as Scott wanted to get more involved with it right now, he knew there wasn't much he could contribute at this time, and he had to keep his focus on making sure life for the students returned to normal, which luckily did not take long, and before he knew it, he was already back to mentoring the team he was training.

Briana's leadership skills had been improving along with how well the team worked with each other, which allowed them to win the next fight against another team. After that match Charlie, Alex, and Dusk, decided to go celebrate, but Briana stayed behind.

"You should go celebrate with your teammates."

"I know. I'll catch up with them in a second. I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to thank you for convincing my mom not to take me out of school and tell you she appreciates your honesty with the situation."

Scott didn't know how to respond to that, other than to thank her for telling him how her mother liked the way he handled the situation. It didn't occur to him not to be honest, but now that he thought about it, that must have been exactly why it was so appreciated. Xavier wasn't always upfront and honest about what went on at the school, and he had not doubt in his mind that if Xavier was still headmaster he would have obfuscated what actually happened when the prisoners escaped.

It shouldn't have surprised him, but everyone else was right when they said Scott would make a great headmaster. It was only now that Scott was really seeing that for himself.


End file.
